Another RARE weekends.....

Quite a lot of things that worth a mention !!

I've been longing to make a "proper" bento if not really a very nice bento for the boys without restriction factors during school days, such as "to be able to withhold our warm temperature"!! This simply means home bento is the best idea !! Usually with the busy events & lazy bugs biting during the weekend, it's really hard to find time to accomplish this task! But this past Saturday, i liked what i cook for our lunch !!!

Hubby got some "sashimo" / the above fish from Cold Storage at very good bargain!! It has always been a 'hit' whenever the family dine at any Japanese restaurant. But maybe due to my lousy frying skills, the boys weren't as fancy as we had initially thought!! Anyway, huby & I do enjoyed eating them!! The moulded rice has been mixed with salmon furikake & there were also other fillings within the rice!! And i had finally finished the last batch of disney animal seaweeds i brought back from Japan!! Though the bento nearly fulfilled the complete criterias of having carbos, protein & veggies, nevertheless, i had expected the boys to give the lettuce & cherry tomato a pass!! Kids never like those anyway....so they were there just to please my camera, haha!! Btw, those brown strips in the triangle silicon cups were "wo lai yeh's yuk kon"/bbq dried meat which was the 1st attacked by the boys !!

This morning, huby finally managed to pick up the courage to send his boys to the long postponed SUNDAY SCHOOL (btw, they should have started since 5 years old) !! I have yet to question him why?? Maybe his grandpa visited him in his dream & gave him a hard knock on his head, bwahahaha.......!!! I personally reckoned that the 1 & a half hour session is a tad long for the kiddos, i'm just very afraid that the boys would soon become very bored of it & hesitate to attend!! And i bet my MIL would be very happy that the grandsons had finally officially on its' way to embrace the religion....she had been hinting & pestering huby to fulfill this obligation of him!!! As Ash Wed, Good Friday & EASTER is approaching, this was their first assignment in the class today !!

For non-christian, these are PALM LEAVES....(the boys told me so, haha) which are used to wave at Jesus on his journey to be crucified....somethg like that lar (as i'm not catholic, stories picked up from huby)!!

I'm glad the boys gave a pretty good review to the start of their sunday class & the fact that they took the effort to colour the leaves after returning home proved their positive attitude...**proud** !!

To reward them after the class, we visited for the 1st time the newly opened IOI Mall Extension mainly for lunch actually!! The boys picked PapaJohn pizzas & the food was pretty good except that we found the portion a bit too small !!!

Then...then...then, DAISO (the RM5 shop) has begin operated since Saturday (28/3) and i knew my visit to IOI mall will never be complete without a visit to it though I didn't really expect much since my bento gear collections are pretty huge already!!

Guess what, the place was "people mountain people sea"....so damn jam pack!! I was even more surprise to discover that the range of products in this branch has more varieties & more extensive than that of The Curve!! So, of course i didn't came out empty handed !!

Without much a do, here you go:

don't you also find these corning wares SO SO SO pretty?? they are not just pretty outside but also quite taxing in weight, so i presume d quality is good !!
and each cost only RM5.....dang !!

Though i saw many new items here which were not available at the other branch during my last visit there, unfortunately there were not many bento related accessories!!! Most of them i had already owned. Anyhow, below were some of my picks!!

i like the 'red bowl' for soup/rice, nice !!

While i was busy at the section for 'silai aunty', the boys were with their dady at where they were meant to be!! They had their pick of items as well !!

And for the longest time i had been looking for those "transparent case" to house the boys mountain of car toys!!
See their range of ferrari cars below & aren't they looked neater this way ??!!

Finally i end this post with yet another snack bento for the boys tomorrow..... simply because:
~the water chestnuts were super sweet & juicy so i had them added into the konyaku jelly &
~the frozen corn seeds were shockingly FRESH & SWEET, i never expected frozen food to turn out so well. just microwave them a little & add some olive butter with a pinch of salt, they tasted like those we get to eat from the Nelson corn!!
at the bottom is a pack of MILO chocolate nougat !!
the colour combination also pretty awesome, rite ??

There goes my busy weekends & i hate to wait for another week to be able to do another posting!! i'm desperately dying to finish off the final episode of my japan visit, i.e. my virgin ONSEN (naked hotspring) session !!! LOL LOL LOL, stay tune lor.....

Bento week # 22

Since posted the boys' series of bentos a month ago with the mom ranting & rafting about her discovery of his little boy Scot refusing to eat & rather suffered the hunger pangs, i have sort of figured out the causes/reasons/rationale behind those ' little drama ' !!!

This little boy has, for his life been a more picky eater compared to his kor-kor, Sean. Since he doesn't "LIVE TO EAT", he is obviously LESS appreciative of food or in other words he is not the "wai sik" type!! And his eating patern is base on NEEDS absolutely....yes, he "EAT to LIVE instead".....as opposed to his parents, *wink* !!!

So after into much talks, persuasion, discussion & consultation (wtf..... like big project pulak...), i could sort of grasped the 'root' of the problem. It appears that those short 20 minutes of the recess time was TOO PRECIOUS to him that he was all willing to forgo his food ....... just for the sake of some 'FREE play time' !! Being such a hyper kid that i knew of him, i don't doubt this at all. It must be pretty hard that he has to be confined in the strict class room environment!! Furthermore, it's really shocking to see the teachers walking around in the school compound with a 'CANE' on top of the pile of books that she was carrying ......as if it was one of her 'teaching tool' :( Being the parents, we can only hope that our kids would not often be the victim of the cane!! Having said that, i can sort of relate to the kids' feeling of restriction & the desire for freedom..... yet on the other hand i would very much like to welcome the enforcement of 'discipline' into the boys' life, what a dilemma ehh??

While the boys related their stories to me, i was made to understand that Scot usually refused to remain seated at the allocated seat in the canteen, thus missing his meal (as their meal was served on the canteen table). Instead he prefers to bring his lunch box to other common areas (flag area/pathway/walkway) and join his little cronies that brought their food from home & did not subscribed to the school meal package!! They were as if having a picnic on the floor, an idea which i'm delighted to receive!! But but .....wait, kids being kids, i can truly understand my son who would not be obligated to sit & eat his meal!! This is especially so when he gets extremely excited PLAYING !! His big brother did 'tuk pui chek/poke his gold finger behind Scot's back' and said Scot used to run around during recess time & i can absolutely picture that!!

Run... chat...push...giggle...run again...bull shit...absolute freedom.......there goes his 20 mins easily !!
and i strongly believe that's how he missed his meal !!
the sad part is, being at primary school level, they are suppose to be entrusted with a responsibility of taking care of themselves during meal time, yet my "well-taken-care-of" boy was just not ready for such huge responsibility yet!!
i truly hope that this phase will fade off soon....bcoz that little tummy really needs some food (even if it's not nutritious type....i.e. canteen food) to sustain the long 7 hours of schooling.....my poor boy!!

Anyway, the above scenarios happened more extreme during the 1st 2 months since school started & as time goes on, i began hearing that Scot sometimes would ate either few mouthfuls of his canteen meal or selective dishes in his bento box....depending on what tricks mummy had used !!! Soon.... as he is more & more willing to take canteen meal, i tend to reduce the size of his bento portion too!! Mostly i would slot in some "add-ons" such as fruits, desserts or other side dishes that could go well with or substitute his canteen meal !!

"strawberries, edamame, cheese cube, marshmellows & baked kamaboko with ham & cheese"

"oranges, fried chicken meat balls & french beans"


"ham sandwich, 1/2 egg, banana fritters & green apple slices"

"leftover food (veggies, meat, milk & egg mixture) quiches"

Here are some of the SATURDAY BREAKFAST meals at home :

Yeah....my dearie SCOT... while i was busy snapping his food, he volunteer this pose, paused & insisted that i snap this photo, arghhh.....he just knows his mom well !!

Btw, he eats well at home under our supervision !!!

"a piece of sushi rice, some pesimmon & dark berries"

OOH ya....i think this was the last meal in these 2 TOMICA CAR lunch boxes before SEAN LOST his box.......this poor boy got nagged by his mom for a whole week, i tell you !!!
I was damn pissed, upset & heartache that i ended up writing a long letter (together with the photo of the lunch box in colour) to the school principal seeking his kind help to locate it back....i know i was betting with luck.....boo hoo!! And I clearly known that i'm super 'kiasu'....so damn petty but ....what to do, that was what my mind wanted to do at that very moment!! But actually i was putting this request as a secondary point in my letter that has other primary issues to attend lar !! Anyhow, i'm glad that the assistant principal did entertained my request & personally gave me a phone call to talk about it.....then i forget about losing the 30ringgit, **grin** !!! Since then i never let the boy use the box & let it collect dust!!
"spit on those parents that allow their kid to bring home things that don't belong to them"

"various pasta meals as it was one of Scot favourite"



Soba mee but it was clearly a wrong idea as i don't have sauce bottle in proper size so the soba soup got spilled & dirty his bag & books!! ** no next time **



"mini sausages & crabsticks pizza with grapes & baby mandarin oranges"

That's some of the boys' bentos recently !!
Hope you don't get too bored with my rantings.....LOL !!

Btw, we survived our EARTH HOUR tonite (back home around 8:45 after dinner & had a night stroll around our 'taman'....the 30-45min went past so fast) !!

Have a good Sunday tomorrow!!

8TV_ULTIMATE POWER GROUP - LIVE (22/3/09)

It was our first experience watching the shooting of a LIVE TV Singing contest organised by 8TV, namely the ULTIMATE POWER GROUP at SRI PENTAS, Shah Alam tonite !!! As the name denotes, it is a singing competition that features group singing instead of individual. Each of the candidate entered the contest on a solo basis, after which those who are eligible to go for the final are then 'grouped' together to form individual group based on compatibility criterias!! So Tricia (the twins' little aunty/huby's cousin sister) was grouped together with 2 cutie pie girls & formed a group called "YA TOU" (or nga tao in cantonese)!!

all 18 - 20 years old.... " pok pok chui ahh "

Sean with the 'leng lui' ....

yeah.... that's her, the cutest lar i must say!!

The competition begins with the selection of 12 groups of finalist!!

Tricia's mom has been extremely supportive of her princess that she constantly reminded her contacts in Facebook to support her.....that was so sweet of a mom, doesn't she?? Of course we were invited to join this wonderful show & luckily my huby was keen to go. I even persuaded my mom to follow since she is a long time 'fans' of such singing show (she has attended numerous times on those organised by Astro)!! Our atmosphere became more merrier when my dad & younger sis also joined us.

sorry for the poor photography skills :(

It was only the 1st round of competition yet the number of audiences that turned up for the show was so shocking. We gathered outside the studio waiting for our group to be called for entrance. Luckily that we got the privilege as family members to enter the studio yet we were seated very far from the stage as others family members had filled up the front seats!!
I was immensedly amazed when the supporters of YA TOU were extremely large....in fact it was the 2nd largest crowd if not the 1st!! It was great feeling seeing such a big crowd of supporters!!

I must say it was pretty interesting to learn & encountered some of the "back stage" actions during a live show like this!! These were things that we don't get to see in front of the square box i.e. TV. The 2 hosts came out to interact with the audiences before the show went on live with the objectives of reaching some consensus to put up a good show together!! The hosts would tell us when are the appropriate time to applaud, shout & scream.....then they would asked us to practise putting up the respective banners to check that the judges or some important scenes were not blocked.....and they also seeked that we don't turned on our camera flash just so that the contestants' vision, hence performance were not affected !!! During commercial break, the hosts will appeared again to provide us the feedback of our behaviours & so on .....
I really enjoyed the show!!

I must agreed that my heart went bumping when YA TOU was called out as the 1st group to perform. It turned out that their performance was absolute CUTE....fantastic & excellent, i must reiterate that i did not exert any exaggeration.....as the judges instantly fell in love with their performance, thus given them a very very good & encouraging comments, phew....i even sighed a relief!! Moving on with the performance of the remaining 5 groups, it was obviously that YA TOU was ahead in the show!!

When the results were released, YA TOU was the ONLY group that gained the special "PASS" from panel of judges to proceed to the next session without having to be subjected to elimination session. All supporters of YA TOU were spared from sending any SMS.....phewwww !!! I was tremendously proud, feeling very thrilled over the victory....though there are still a long journey ahead to reach the final stage!! Can't begin to imagine the feeling of the parents.....

great job & good show YA TOU !!
after the result was released, being the winning group, they were like super 'STARs' posing for photography & being interviewed, LOL !!!

Hopefully YA TOU will continue to be consistent in their performance moving forward. We shall be back to Sri Pentas to support you !!! Keep up the good work....

Tricia on far left.



To catch them, please note:

Every Sunday, 8:30 pm on Channel 708 ~ 8TV !!
btw, if you like them....do give support ya !!

Bento week # 21

Despite the continuous busy life....food is still important & in most days, 2 of my meals in the office are home-made BENTO, so obviously the preparation consumed quite a bit of time of my 24 hours a day. Furthermore, i'm not only doing bento for myself & the boys, but also for hubby as he has recently started to accept bento (but strictly for breakfast only). Guess like any other men, he still yearn for a much needed catch up with his cronies during lunch!!!

So imagine the number of bento photos lying in my camera....so it's understandable that i've gotten more stringent in the selection of bento photos for posting.......!!

I have many many back dated posts queueing up behind but i know that my 'constipated' bento photos needed to be released before they got out of control. And the effort of 'beautifying' those food that goes into the stomach in split seconds (yet shit out the next day) would have gone wasted if i don't treasured them up here!!!

Alright, enough of justifying & lets enjoy my MARATHON bento photos........yet again !!

Here are all the ADULTS BENTOS :


Cha SOBA that goes with some fried chicken fillet, carrots & sweet peas!
Desserts are banana fritters & green apples!

Sweet potato sesame BUN that goes with roast ginger chicken alternating with potatos slices!
Green salads with dressing & strawberries with honey!

TOP
L: Blanced longevity noodles at the bottom of brocollis, carrots, cucumbers & prawns!
R: Edamame & baked ham & cheese in kamaboko



Meehoon that goes with soya sauce chicken & egg!

PIZZA making day using a pita bread !!!

L: 3 pcs of Inari, minced meat ham on japanese tofu at the bottom & 2 pcs of buffalo wings!!
R: Longevity noodles repeating ....

PANCAKES day!!
Salads, Inari, pancakes

Prawns, carrots & long beans on a pool of longevity noodles, more inari with lychee & grapes!!

PASTA day!!


Bunny marinara pasta & pasta with oyster sauce minced meat !!

SOBA mee & Fried MeeHoon with salad & grapes

BREAD & SANDWICHES !!

PITA bread & Hot dog bun with greenies & veggies (tomato, pumpkin, lettuce, carrots, zuchinni)
salads (blueberries, macademia nuts, raisins, cherry tomato & green leaves)

Have a nice Sunday tomorrow & Happy Bentoing !!!

The "aftermath" of my 2009 birthday .....

It's just another passing of "A" BIRTH date....at an age you won't probably feel great anymore sigh !! :(

... am not really expecting ...

yet i'm so glad, so blessed, so happy that i have LOVED ones that remember this supposedly ordinary day, what's more having a few good old frens to throw a little small celebration at my place to commemorate d occasion......

** the aftermath ~ i have these to cherish **

tempura prawn...

steam fish...

scallops with mix veggies...

minced meat on tofu...

AND how can i forget to snap the photo of the all-time-HIT sweet & sour POPcorn chicken???

agar-agar mix jellies...

set of earrings & bracelet with ....... errrrggg.......a baking book ????
my fren certainly knew my latest passion, LOL !!! and u know what was the change?? a change from giving me "sexy lingerie/pyjamas" to a "COOK BOOK", i can't believe it *laughing* !!!

a yearly 'treat' from my pal, a cousin sister..... we had a change of taste this time & tried Korean food !!!

from my ...... ahem .....

btw, not forgetting the many greetings & wishes from friends at facebook/MSN/email/ via sms, it really does make a different !!

THANKS folks from the bottom of my heart !!